Heart attack risk up for labourers and drivers

Dubai: Labourers and drivers constitute the majority of heart cases in the UAE, with some as young as 18 suffering from a heart attack due to job pressures.

Health officials at Dubai Hospital, who are organising the upcoming Gulf Heart Association in Dubai from April 9 to 11, revealed the statistics from their heart registry to Gulf News.

"They are under a lot of stress; the types of food they eat are not healthy," said Dr Mahmoud Mohammad M. Ghanayem, specialist senior registrar at Dubai Hospital.

Dr Nooshin Bazargani, cardiologist at the hospital and chairman of the conference added: "[Drivers']) risk is higher because they are not getting enough exercise as they are driving most of the time."''

Of the 1,600 cases registered with the hospital's heart registry, 84 per cent were South Asian, of which 80 per cent were blue-collar workers.

However, the officials said there is little they can do to prevent the cases as blue-collar workers in the UAE were transient.

"It's hard to develop strategies for them because these people are in the UAE for only a short period of time. And our plans depend on someone being in the country for five years or more so we can follow up," Dr Ghanayem said.

"Labour laws in the UAE are already good. They can't drive more than 12 hours even if they wanted to, to make more money."

He said the problem was largely due to a poor diet and a reluctance to seek medical help upon experiencing early signs, for fear of losing their jobs due to ill-health.

Dr Nooshin said health officials would go to labour accommodation sites and educate labourers on heart disease and the risk factors.